Hello WORriors! It is #ThrowbackThursday and we are throwing back old photos of Actress and producer, Uche Jombo!
See photos below;
In what can be described as the first of its kind, Artelier Lifestyle Consultants, Nigeria’s leading Etiquette and Image Consultancy, on Saturday, 25th November, 2017, graduated the first class of “Future First Ladies”™, after an intensive Finishing school, Mentoring and Coaching programme designed to give a balanced spiritual and social foundation to young ladies aged 18 and above, equipping them to become well rounded leaders.
The eight week practical learning sessions had profound female leaders and role models spend time with the ladies from 10am to 2pm each Saturday, imparting various skills required for them to become more eloquent, make better decisions, be more successful financial managers, demonstrate social etiquette skills, and master personal style among many others.
During her session, Former Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, Unoaku Anyadike, spoke to participants on how she developed a personal style and grooming regimen, which helped her stand out and become a two-time national and international beauty queen in addition to maintaining an elegant, fashionable image.
Top Regional HR Director, Folake Adeniyi-Adeleye, also shared tips from her journey to building an enviable global career and how to navigate workplace harassment. Mrs. Yetty Williams, founder of Nigeria’s foremost parenting platform, LagosMums, mentored participants on what they need to do before saying “I Do” as well as how to create the ever elusive work-life balance.
Celebrity Stylist and Chief Executive Officer of Hyperfashun, Ifeoma Odogwu, took the students on a practical session in putting together a stylish wardrobe and staying fashionable on a budget while Africa’s Premier Wealth Coach and author, Omilola Oshikoya, also spoke to the “Future First Ladies”™, on how to become a “Richer Woman”. The participants were given autographed copies of her best-selling book, “The Richer Woman” courtesy of the organisers.
Africa’s top Cosmetics company, House of Tara, facilitated a hands on session where the ladies were shown how to create different looks, using the right makeup products for individual skin types.
Commenting on the finishing school experience, one of the participants, Yemisi, said “..attending the finishing school was a life changing experience for me, things I took for granted such as my dining skills and makeup routine were emphasised – on how they help to project me for a more successful outcome in life. I learnt so much that I am already implementing on my job and in personal projects. I definitely recommend this for every woman out there, it is never too late to attend a finishing school.”
Ngozi Princewill Utchay, Founder/CEO, Artelier Lifestyle Consultants said, “the Future First Ladies Finishing school, Mentoring and Coaching Programme was initiated to fill a gap in the society” , which she had seen occur frequently where young women ended up living average lives because they lacked the right spiritual foundation and had little or no access to the right role models to guide them in making sound decisions. We are pleased at the feedback from this inaugural session.
Future First Ladies Finishing School, Coaching and Mentoring Programme ran from Saturday 7th October, 2017 to Saturday 25th November, 2017 and was generously supported by Yves Rocher Nigeria, House of Tara, Onobello.com, Events by Maryann Colette, Genevieve Magazine, LagosMums and Prime Chinese Restaurant.
See photos from the event below:
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So, a friend of mine told me some time back that he was writing a book (I think) and he wanted people to write about one or two topics in the said book. Pondering over this few times, there were so many topics that came into mind (being the kind of person who talks to myself aloud about different topics mostly). So I had to finally settle on one topic that has been on my mind for a while now which is summarily about one’s PURPOSE in life. This is an excerpt of what I wrote, Hope you enjoy reading.
”I remember back in Secondary School there was a time where a book titled ‘Purpose Driven Life’ was very popular amongst students and I remember there was one particular girl in my dormitory who was very serious about it. She practically always had it in her hands. I used to wonder what all that farce was about.
Fast forward to about a year ago, I started thinking deeply about the reason I am on this earth. I mean even with us human beings, everything we create and use has a purpose for which it was made. For instance, we have invented telephones for communication purposes, as well as cars for easier transportation, clothes to cover our nakedness, houses to serve as a confinement where we could lay our heads among others. In fact, let us take a house for example, why would one (especially in these recent times where the economy is very tough) just waste money in buying a plot of land, employ workers to start a foundation and then commence the construction of the house FOR NO REASON OR PURPOSE. I mean even the richest man wouldn’t do that…..at least he would want to put his money into profitable use though he has it in abundance.
Likewise, we human beings have a CREATOR (forget all those ridiculous stories about the Big Bang and Evolution of Man from an Ape like Animal and what have you). This creator surely had a purpose for us when he made us. I mean if the inanimate objects we human beings create have purposes then how much more won’t we ourselves have purposes for which we have been brought forth to this earth. I mean we were created on the last day of creation and I am sure God saved the best of all his creations for the last so He would have adequate time to complete EVERYTHING in style.
So back to the story I started with of the ‘Purpose Driven Life’ just summarises the fact that firstly there is a PURPOSE attached to life and subsequently that purpose MUST drive or guide a person’s life. As simple as it may seem, it is a quite complex concept and sadly many people are miles away from their purpose and chasing after things they have been told they are supposed to pursue or things that look good to the eye which could be in the form of degrees, relationships, careers and so on. I think that is the most dangerous thing ever yet little attention is paid to that. Let’s take parts of the body into consideration,,,, Imagine your arms doing the talking or your ears breathing instead of your nose you will be scared right? I mean that is not its rightful job. But funny enough it is not scary that somebody who is actually supposed to be a teacher finds himself working in a bank and does not consider that SCARY enough. I mean all that matters is the money right because on average many people are much more concerned about their incomes and care less about whether or not they are ACTUALLY enjoying it.
The thing is, when you serve a different purpose other than what you were created to do, you automatically prevent someone else from fulfilling theirs. So, it’s like a ripple effect. So back to my example, someone who was probably supposed to be taking the position you have at the bank finds him or herself doing something else. Just because of one person’s mistake or should I say inability to identify their God given purpose. But you see, to identify one’s purpose too is not as easy as knowing the purpose of the things we human beings create for ourselves. I mean some people are born with extra ordinary talents such as singing, dancing, painting, acting, playing football among others. Others too are academically gifted. That is talent and NOT purpose. The difference is simple. Your talent might be singing well but the purpose that heavenly or succulent voice is supposed to serve is probably to draw someone towards God or to inspire people but when you end up addressing your singing or should I say the song to the wrong audience you have missed your purpose. Sadly, many people might have started out doing the right things regarding their purpose but have been snatched by the pursuits of money, fame, power and what have you.
How then do I know my purpose or better still know it and fulfil it accordingly. Know the Creator. Knowing God as the Creator is different from knowing of. It may sound cliché but the more you draw closer to your maker, he continues to lead you to your purpose. It may not be an easy ride as you may have to try out some few things along the way, be told NO severally, fall down and rise again few times among others but that is all part of the growth purpose. How you get to your purpose may also be dependent of how BIG your purpose is. Yes, some people’s purposes are bigger than others….and that is how it is. If the road seems tough and thoughts of quitting sets in like it always would and has, just remember how your mum had to carry you in her womb for 9 months and for some over that. The pain and struggles she had to overcome….I mean she had an option (you may disagree) but still thought the end product which is YOU is worth all that struggle. So imagine how the end product (YOUR PURPOSE) will be worth it if you draw closer to God, stay under HIS feet and allow him to teach and direct you towards YOUR PURPOSE”.
P.S I have recently started to discover my purpose and I am loving it. I mean there is this innate peace and satisfaction when you find that thing which comes easily to you whilst making an impact in your audience’s life in a positive way. Truthfully it is WORTH it though it has been a long way coming! You can find yours too!
ABOUT GERTRUDE SAYS
My name is Gertrude Asumadu, a 24 year old young lady who is passionate about women empowerment, girl child education and overall helping others to achieve their own dreams. I am a graduate of University of Leeds with a degree in BSc (Hons) Economics. My time in university was the turning point for me I believe as I have been able to stretch myself and in essence on way to achieving my purpose.
Please feel free to contact me on various social media platforms so we can start working together!
Email: asumadugertrude@yahoo.com/asumadugertrude@gmail.com
LinkedIn: Gertrude Asumadu
Twitter: @AsumaduGertrude
Facebook: Gertrude Asumadu
Hello WORriors! It is #WCW and our Woman Crush is Taiwo Ajai-Lycett!
Taiwo Ajai-Lycett is a Nigerian actress, journalist, television presenter, and cosmetologist. She is a feminist and was the first editor of Africa Woman magazine in the 1970s.
Lycett was born on 3 February 1941 in Lagos, Western Region of Colonial Nigeria. Her father was of Awori heritage. She was educated at Mt Carmel Convent School, Lagos, before proceeding to Methodist Girls’ High School, Lagos.
To further her studies, she traveled to London to study business and administration. In London, she took courses at Christine Shaw School of Beauty Science in London, where she received a certificate in Cosmetology. She also attended Hendon College of Technology, where she obtained a Higher National Diploma in Business Studies in 1969. While studying, she worked as a waitress at Lyons Tea Shop, then moved to the Post Office and later advertising. In the Post Office, she started as a personal secretary in 1962 and later worked as a senior secretary in the office of Lord Hall.
She moved to advertising and was in the personnel department of advertising firm, Young and Rubicam. She then worked as a personal assistant to the managing partner of Gresham Broad and Co, an accounting firm.
Her acting debut was in December 1966 in Wole Soyinka‘s The Lion and the Jewel, a two-act comedy directed by William Gaskill at the Royal Court Theatre in London. Her acting debut was not planned, she was in the rehearsal hall of the play when she was asked by Gaskill to be a participant. After the encouragement she received following her performance and the invitations from producers that followed, she decided to take a career in acting seriously. She enrolled at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
In 1972, she left her corporate career and joined the Traverse Theatre Group for the Edinburgh Festival. She was later in a string of television and stage shows. In 1973, she was in Amadu Maddy’s play Life Everlasting at the Africa Centre, London, and later in the year, she was in Peter Nichols’ The National Health during the Festival of British Theatre. In 1976, she played the lead role in Yemi Ajibade’s Parcel Post at the Royal Court Theatre. Together with the actor Louis Mahoney and the writer Mike Phillips, she was a director with the Black Theatre Workshop in London.
She returned to Nigeria in 1971. She has featured in several notable Nigerian films, including Tinsel, the award-winning Nigerian soap opera.
In 1975, Ajai was invited to join the staff of Africa Magazine published by Ralph Uwechue. Later, she became the pioneer editor of Africa Woman magazine, a women’s magazine for Africans in the diaspora. As editor, she was a participant at the United Nations International Women’s Year.
On 1 October 2006 she received a national award of Officer of the Order of the Niger, decorated by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In February 2008, at an All-Star Gala held at Theatre Royal Stratford East on the 10th anniversary of Tiata Fahodzi, she was honoured as a leader of British-African theatre, alongside Dotun Adebayo and Yemi Ajibade.
She is a Fellow of the Society of Nigerian Theatre Artists (SONTA).
Women Of Rubies celebrates you, ma!
A Nigerian Lady known as Chizzy Simmons has emerged the overall outstanding graduate from her school in the United States.
Chizzy was honored as the University of Louisianna (UL) college of science outstanding graduate and the overall UL outstanding graduate for fall 2017.
She shared the exciting news on her Instagram page and congratulatory messages have been pouring in since then.
source: fabwoman.ng
Nollywood actress and newlywed Adesua Etomi Wellington took time out on December 11th to share the thing she has learnt from God in recent times.
Sharing these points on her Twitter page, she outlined her them in numerical fashion while backing them up with scriptural references in some instances.
Here is what she shared with her fans on twitter:
On the 10th of December, Kemi won the ‘Her Network, Woman Of The Year Award 2017’, and in her appreciation post, she talked about finding her purpose and how she managed to stay true to her dreams.
See her Instagram post below
source: fabwoman.ng
Granted, we don’t have winter in Nigeria, but there’s no denying we’ll be the envy of other country at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeong Chang, South Korea. Our bobsled team, which is the first out of Africa, is already taking media attention.
And right now it seems we have another bit of history waiting to be made as Simidele Adeagbo is one race away from becoming the first woman skeleton athlete from Africa to take part in the competition.
(Photo: Simidele Adeagbo)
Adeagbo is a retired track and field athlete, having held the National Collegiate Athletic Association All-American and triple jump school record for four times. Her interest in skeleton was sparked six months ago when she heard about the amazing Nigerian bobsled team. Determined to shatter the glass ceiling in athletics, she went for a trial in August and was successful.
Because there are no ice tracks in Johannesburg where she lives, Adeagbo prepares by watching videos of past runs and also using tips and tricks compiled by other athletes. When she can, she travels to Canada where she trains on ice tracks that run as far as 1.5km long.
But with these preparations, there can be changes in the weather which make skeleton quite unpredictable. The 36-year-old, who is in love with Davido’s Fia’ because it reminds her that what she’s doing is “for the continent and for the people back home”, isn’t disturbed by this.
Although she injured her chin in her last competition, there’s no stopping her from the fifth race in Lake Placid, New York, which will see her achieve that dream of qualifying for the Winter Olympics on January 11, 2018.
culled from konbini.com
As part of the social reforms by the crown prince, Saudi Arabia has lifted a 35-year ban on cinemas.
The first cinemas are expected to open in March 2018. The aim is to reach 2,000 screens in more than 300 cinemas by 2030.
The industry is expected to contribute about $24 billion to the economy and creating over 30,000 jobs.
Announcing the move on Monday, the culture minister, Awwad Alawwad, said:
“This marks a watershed moment in the development of the cultural economy in the kingdom.
Opening cinemas will act as a catalyst for economic growth and diversification. By developing the broader cultural sector we will create new employment and training opportunities, as well as enriching the kingdom’s entertainment options.”
According to a ministry statement reported by the official Saudi Press Agency, movies would be edited according to the “standards of the Kingdom” and would not “contradict with Sharia Laws and moral values.”
The kingdom hasn’t had public cinemas since the early 1980s. Conservatives who consider cinemas as sinful and harmful to the culture were instrumental in shutting them down in the 1980s.
Since his rise to power in 2015, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been shaking up the place with series of social and economic reforms, including allowing women to drive and allowing women into sports stadiums.
The social reforms are part of a plan for the kingdom’s economy post oil era.
news credit: pulsenews
In a post shared on her IG page, actress Liz Anjorin, recounted her tear-jerking growing up story. She narrated how as a young lady selling at an Amala joint, she became pregnant for a man who was from a prominent family and how she suffered rejection from the family members.
She also recounted how she had to leave her daughter for 10 years just so she can go out to seek a better life for both of them.
Read her compelling story below…
I’m locking it down today for Almighty Allah, my late mum and the people that have been patronizing me… Infact yestday was a joyful day for me and it’s also a day that draws me back to my childhood memories, but i was down since 2am till now , i cant even attend to pple properly cos smone is missing .. though nobody knows all this about me except I tell them bcos I don’t keep friends but today. i’ve be been librating pple on my platform wit orisirisi stories but today am tell u mine for pple to knw life is not a bed of rose.
I give glory to Allah for His genuine love and His protection..Each time i think about it, I get scared on how to make it bcos I was born with a silver spoon but everything scattered that I can’t even be identified with a panda spoon as a child… I grew up with my mum alone on the street, we hustle together, we were both forsaken and forgotten on street, we both worked 20hrs, slept for 2hrs and arranged our goods for 2hrs: it was tough and lonely.. it got to a point that i asked my mum the whereabouts of my dad and she told me; u can only meet ur dad and his family when u make it in life..
I hawk early in the morning b4 school opens and I have to rush back to an uncompleted KIOSK we lives to pick something for school in order not to be late for that day lectures… For a very long time we don’t eat meat except raining season when we picked tiny snails to eat, we picked carton on refuse-disposal to sleep and whenever it rained we both remained standing.. Whenever she went hustling, i did “Omo odo alamala’ and that was where I met my baby father.
Mum, u told me to have a baby bcos u don’t want the two of us to perish on the street.. Yes! I followed your words but i was turn down by my baby father’s elder brother: if u are seeing this post let me remind u of what u said to my baby daddy in front of me and my mum then, you said; mama ko possible se eyin le gba iru e, omo commissioner wa n be aburo mi o fe, what did he see in this poor servant of a poor restaurant, u guys are stinking leave my house or i loose the dogs and my Mother in-law(Iya ijebu) ran after us and said;.omo mi, u will follow me to Jos bcos my son confessed to me that he was the one dat defiled u..
Even when I gave birth to the innocent girl, this man(my baby daddy brother) refused to touch her till date despite the fact that my baby daddy died few months after I gave birth to my daughter.. even after we lost the child’s father: you didn’t give us a dime bcos I be omo nobody to you but thanks to my baby father’s mother(Iya Ijebu terminus market Jos), she stood by me then… I remember when we were going to Jos, mama told me to hide and lied to u that she want to pee in order to hide me @fagba bus-stop and immediately u saw me u told ur mother dat i cant step into ur car and u dropped mama loads instantly and zoomed-off.. I sat on motor-engine from ido to Jos(you can imagine how painful it was)..
I can’t even remember how many times I fell down with the pregnancy trying to sell to customers what we don’t have in mama’s shop bcos I believe I must make money for her, she must not regret of bringing me to Jos bcos her son warned her.. I got to Jos with one cloth and Ghana-must-go bag filled with nylon.. she told me to change my cloth but i was shivering, so she opened the bag and saw plenty nylon, then she said; did u mistakenly pick someone’s refuse and I told her dat, that was the nylon i do slept on, then she opened her wardrobe and gave me 10 new wrappers.. She never called me to ask for money, even when I sent money to her, she told me not to send money again and get on my feet first.
I can never forget you(my mother in-law) iya rere… On my baby naming ceremony, she sat as my husband and she did an elaborated naming for my baby.. Since i got to Jos my baby father didn’t talk to me till the day he left dis sinful world(rip), bcos his brother made him realized that it’s very ridiculous for him to let a low servant like me have a baby for him.. Don’t let me tell u all what i went through in the labour room… even the doctor was wondering if i was holy mary they brought out scissors to help the virginity, i can’t even forget how i held the bed sheet and gnashed my teeth on the wet cloth during the cutting and sewing of my V…
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My suffering doubled again cos I had a baby girl, they made me realized that female child holds no value in their family and male child is the real child.. I endured and cried often; I couldn’t even imagine what my poor mother was going through all alone at that moment bcos she had me with menopause, she is aged already and that’s what prompted me to determine and focus that I’ve to make it in life.. i left the baby when she was a year and half old and I never set my eyes on her until she clocked 10yrs bcos of the tortured and molestation I received from pple as omo nobody.. their molestation made me to determined to die on the street or make it and go back for the child, so I came to Lagos from Jos. When i got to Lagos i didn’t go to my mum bcos she will be so disappointed in me bcos she won’t understand what I passed through except iya ijebu… Everybody don’t want omo nobody in their midst, the day i left my daughter, she was crying bitterly and dat day i re-named her toSo i became church rat, i slept in churches, do odd jobs in day time.. May God bless the churches i slept in then but i can’t forget how many times i was beaten with bunch of broom bcos I was framed as emere(wizard) cos i was fair in complexion with slit read hair… It was so tough in my toilet cleaning job…
source: stagist.com, instagram
